Newspaper Page Text
4
I
■ Marshall coping away from gridiron
rn 1
& Black
, ^ct serving the University of Georgia Community
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1990 • ATHENS, GEORGIA • VOLUME 98, ISSUE 4
INSIDE
Dreams So Real find their
own sound with latest
album and bring it to the
stage in Athens tonight
along with new guitarist.
10
Weather: Carry raincoat to game.
Today, mostly cloudy, 80s,
tonight, cloudy, 70s, Sat., chance
of thunderstorms. 80s.
Robert Temple, better known as "Bubu," has
been a clown for about seven years. Originally
from Maine, Temple is getting himself made up
for the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus, which will
perform its last night in Athens at the YMCA on
Hawthorne Avenue tonight. The shows begin at
4:30 and 8:00 p.m. The circus is sponsored by
the YMCA and opened last night. Look for lions
and tigers and bears, oh my.
Photos by Wayne Jackson
Puttin’ on a happy face
Police services cut
due to budget woes
By CHRISTOPHER GRIMES
Staff Writer
After being dealt a $35,600 budget cut, University
police are re-examining the way they do business.
And with the possibility of further cuts on the way,
Public Safety Director Asa Boynton is concerned that
his department may have to strip back its services
even further.
Already, the department is three officers short —
only 54 of 57 spaces were filled this fall, Boynton said.
“Our normal procedure is to have all seven posi
tions filled by the beginning of fall quarter,” he said.
“But this year our only option has been to cut per
sonnel. These cuts really limit what we can do in
terms of manpower and operations.”
Barring further cuts, however, the positions may be
filled if there’s money left at the end of the year, Uni
versity Police Chief Chuck Horton said.
But the possibility of further cuts in January wor
ries Boynton. If the cuts come, he said, the police will
have to begin performing only “essential services.”
Boynton said he expects to know if the cuts will
come by the end of the year.
“If we receive more cuts we’re going to have to do
the best we can to provide just the essential services,”
he said. “Some of tne things we have been doing won’t
get done.”
Boynton said the department won’t be able to spend
as much time on cases as it has in the past.
“If you had a watch or a diamond ring stolen, we
have always done our best to get that back for you —
even if it wasn’t likely that we’d find it. But in the fu
ture, if the possibility of finding it is unlikely, we may
spend less time on the case,” he said.
Another source of heat for University police is the
shortage of service officers on campus, Boynton said.
Service officers are civilian officers who act as security
guards.
Individual departments pay for service officers, but
some have had to cut them out because of budget re
straints. This puts more pressure on the University
police.
“Some departments have said they’ll have no more
(service officers),” Boynton said. ‘They don’t like that,
but they had to cut back somewhere.
‘They want us to pick up the slack, but we couldn’t
even do that before. This is the dilemma that comes
with these cuts.”
Boynton said he may expand the new bicycle pa
trols to help stretch dollars and manpower.
“We may well find ourselves having to boost the
bike patrols to save ourselves a few bucks,” he said.
‘They’re more efficient than the operating costs of ve
hicles.”
While the budget cuts have forced the police to do
more with less money, Horton said working on a small
budget isn’t foreign to the department.
“We’re not going to fold up the tents or anything,”
Horton said. “Everybody’s hurting from the cuts. And
I don’t think the police department has ever had a lot
of money anyway .”
Alone on deserted street
Student fends off attacker
By DAN POOL
Staff Writer
A University student walking
alone on a deserted street after
leaving a fraternity party fought
off a potential rapist early
Thursday morning, according to
Athens police reports.
Reports read that the student
was walking on Hull Street after 3
a.m. when an unknown male
walked up to her and began
making conversation.
Hull Street runs parallel to
Lumpkin Street.
University police Sgt. Richard
Goodson said the man then pulled
her into the wooded area between
the graduate student parking lots
there and attacked her.
‘The victim fought him off after
a struggle,” Goodson said. “He had
a weapon, possibly a bladed
weapon.”
After she managed to get free
from her attacker, the victim ran to
another fraternity house and woke
up residents who helped her get po
lice and medical attention, he said.
“She was treated at an area hos
pital for minor wounds, some of
which may have been inflicted by
the weapon,” Goodson said.
The victim described the at
tacker to the police as a black man
with a medium complexion and
short hair. He was about 5 feet 8
inches tall and 140 pounds,
wearing a blue long-sleeved T-shirt
and blue jeans.
Another University student was
raped earlier this week, but police
see no similarities in the two cases.
Goodson said the influx of new
people coming back into town have
created more potential targets and
more potential rapists.
Goodson also said students out
late at parties should walk home in
groups.
“Anyone, anywhere, walking
alone after dark could be a target,”
he said.
University Police Chief Chuck
Horton has asked that anyone who
heard or saw anything around the
time of the attack call University
police.
Police cannot release informa
tion that might identify a rape
victim.
Chuck Horton: Looking for
witnesses
State begins testing
bio-sciences complex
By AL DIXON
Staff Writer
In an attempt to remedy the health hazard at the Biological Sciences
Complex, the University has enlisted the aid of the Georgia Department
of Human Resources. , , ,
The DHR began its investigation Wednesday by sending environ
mental specialist James Drinnon to the University for the initial inspec
tion of the building. '
Drinnon met Wednesday with representatives from Physical Plant,
Public Safety and bio-sciences. He then went on a fact-finding tour of the
building to inspect the facilities and the improvements made since the
initial complaints.
These improvements and adjustments were undertaken by Physical
Plant in response to the continuing complaints from employees working
in the bio-sciences complex.
Physical Plant Director James TenBrook said Drinnon seemed to be
satisfied with the improvements his office has made so far.
“We have token the standard measures in repairing the situation,”
Tenbrook said. “Now we just have to sit back and wait for the recommen
dations of the Department of Human Resources or Public Safety.”
Public Safety Administrative Director Asa Boynton said Drinnon’s in
spection was only the beginning of the DHR’s investigation.
^ “On Monday Drinnon is delivering an air sampler which will analyze
the air in the biological sciences building to see if there are any dangerous
contaminants present,” he said.
Boynton said he expects Drinnon’s recommendations and some pre
liminary results from the air sampler within a few weeks.
The hazardous conditions in the building first became apparent when
workers noticed a bad odor in some of the biology laboratories. These em
ployees soon began complaining of symptoms such as excessive fatigue,
abdominal pains, back pains and nausea.
In May Public Safety identified the chemical causing the odor as pyri
dine an organic chemical solvent used in lab experiments. Exposure to
pyridine causes symptoms identical to those of which the employees com-
P ^The pyridine leak was traced to a plastic pipe. Physical Plant replaced
it with an iron pipe, but health problems in the building continued be
cause of improper dumping of chemicals into the drainage system.
Early this summer, Rosemary Woodel, office manager of the Zoology
Department, began compiling a list of employees with ailments that could
possibly be related to working in the biological sciences building. She sent
the list to a local doctor.
University officials eventually decided the problem warranted a com-
lete investigation. The DHR was asked to conduct the investigation be
cause the University lacked the necessary equipment to conduct the
investigation itself.
New retirement plan forces tough call
Two Systems For Retirement
Teachers Retirement System (TRS)
Faculty Member
contributes 6% of his
yearly salary.
The Stale of Georgia
contributes 13% of the salary
of all TRS participants.
All faculty members draw from this fund using the
following formula:
(# of years worked)(2%)(hlghc^ salary)
Optional Retirement Plan (ORP)
Faeulty Member
contributes 6% of his
yearly salary.
The State of Georgia
contributes 4% of the
faculty member's salary
Both contributions are placed in an individual
account for that faculty member.
By PATRICK FLANIGAN
Staff Writer
About 1,350 University faculty
members have a tough decision
to make by Sept. 28.
A recent law passed by the
Georgia Legislature to create a
new faculty retirement option
contains an errant clause which
could cause many faculty mem
bers to “forfeit all rights” to
money they have earned.
With this concern in mind,
many faculty members must
make an “irrevocable" decision as
to which retirement option is best
for them.
‘The law was intended to be
used as a tool to attract skilled
faculty to Georgia,” said State
Sen. Paul Broun (D-Athens).
“But if that’s not what it’s doing
we can always amend it.”
The new retirement plan cre
ated by the law is the Optional
Retirement Plan. The existing
lan is Teachers Retirement
ystem, Robert Boehmer, assis
tant professor of legal studies,
wrote in a letter to The Red and
Black.
Boehmer is one of a large
number of non-vested faculty
members who participate in TRS.
Personnel Services Director
Carlton James said, “Vested
refers to the period of time re
quired to be entitled to obtain
benefits on a monthly annuity
basis from service to the Univer
sity System of Georgia.”
Participants of the old retire
ment plan are vested after 10
years. Participants of the new
plan are immediately vested, he
said.
Faculty members who are not
vested and elect to change from
TRS to ORP were informed by
the Personnel Services that
money already contributed to
TRS will remain in TRS without
earning interest.
The amount of money in the re
tirement fund is determined by
the amount of time a faculty
member has been employed by
the university system.
A faculty member who has
been with the University for nine
years may have as much as $50,-
000 in this fund, said Edward
Davis, University representative
to the American Association of
University Professors.
Davis and AAUP representa
tives from other university
system schools are working to
have the law amended when the
Georgia General Assembly comes
to session in January, he said.
But the decision to choose ORP
is “an irrevocable option that
must be made by Sept. 28 in the
absence of existing information,”
Boehmer said in an interview.
The clause in question states
that the option is irrevocable.
Faculty members who change to
the new plan forfeit all rights
under the new retirement system
except the right to receive a re
fund in the event of death, retire
ment or termination from the
university system, Boehmer said.
It is the opinion of the attorney
general that by “forfeiting all
rights" the participants have lost
the right to earn interest, he said.
The original bill was drafted by
the University System Board of
Regents and submitted to the leg
islature.
The primary reason for ORP is
to create a more attractive, por
table, retirement system to re
cruit faculty to the state.
Teachers of higher education
tend to be more mobile, regents
spokesman Michael Baxter said.
SUpticn Mor—kl/Ttx R«d and Blech
Personnel Services has held
three meetings and will hold an
other in the Tate Student Center
Monday to provide consultation
for professors.